The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (Coen Bros.) [Netflix]

pixelburp

So after some confusion about what format the Coen Brothers next work would take, a trailer has been released, revealing 'Buster Scruggs' to be a 6-part anthology film - however that'll work:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2PyxzSH1HM

Wedwood

If the series is as good as the trailer, it might be the best thing on TV this year.

Unearthly

There are a lot of reviews (94% positive) out there already. Was it previewed at a festival?

Edit: yes. 'It premiered at the 75th Venice International Film Festival on August 31, 2018, where it won the Golden Osella Award for Best Screenplay'

pixelburp

A new trailer has popped up - appearing on Netflix November 16:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YES0lLXIIz4

Agent Coulson

Dropped today.

Frank O. Pinion

I really enjoyed this. Big Coen brothers fan. Out of the six stories, two were great, two very good, one bleak and slow, and one I didn't like. My favourite was the old gold digger and Mr. Pocket. Overall, it turned out a decent film for something that started off as an anthology series.

Slydice

Just finished. The six short stories were decent.

At the start and end, there is a bit of text from the story. Most contribute a something. I'd say the text at the end of Meal Ticket had the most to contribute.

NIMAN

Never heard of this until now.....trailers look great, really looking forward to watching.

Snake Plisken

Really thought this was great my favourite was the first The Balled of Buster Scraggs. Loved the James Franco second story Near Algones Third story Meal Ticket with Liam Neeson was bleak but good. The 4th story All Gold Canyon with Tom Waits was great, the 5th The Gal who got Rattled was a bit overlong but paid off in the end. I found the final story The Mortal Remains with Brendan Gleeson to be the weakest.
I got to the and had to watch Buster Scraggs segment again it's that good!
Overall a great anthology from the Coen Brothers!

JP Liz V1

Are the stories linked?

Snake Plisken

JP Liz V1 wrote: »

Are the stories linked?

No they are not but have similar themes

johnny_ultimate

It, pretty much inevitably, doesn't escape the pitfalls of the anthology film - that you inevitably end up ranking the best / worst ones is sufficient evidence of that. But Joel and Ethan do a damn good job nonetheless.

It does the film no harm that, in a departure from many anthology efforts, it's made by the same people so there's a strong, consistent voice throughout. They also mix things up nicely - IMO the chapters range from skits (Near Algodones) to traditional short films (All Gold Canyon) to something approaching a short feature that could easily have ran for another 30, 40, 50 minutes (The Gal Who Got Rattled). Nothing in here's a real bust (2 and 6 were my least favourites, but again I only say that because you inevitably end up ranking these things) and some of them are very nice indeed - the titular chapter's a delight, and I was all in for All Gold Canyon / The Gal... There's a welcome throughline of these all being western stories with some sort of twist on expectations, and the distinctively Coen-brothers darkly comedic vibe carries over across all six. So overall it's a confident, thoroughly entertaining two hours - if not exactly peak Coens, it's absolutely welcome comfort food.

One thing that did stand out was a highly digital look to the thing. Maybe it's a consequence of the small-screen approach and the Netflix encoding, but there was a HD sheen to everything that somewhat undermined the otherwise beautiful, sharp cinematography. I guess we'll see more of that sort of thing as more films get produced for Netflix first, but a covering of good ol' film grain would have been welcome here at times.

pixelburp

This was very disappointing, but a disappointment initially coloured by an acknowledgement that anthological tales just don't interest me by default: in the same way starters in restaurants don't appeal, anthologies never satisfy; their constituent stories entice but finish just as I was getting comfortable. "Buster Scruggs" was no different in that respect, but this time tinged with further disappointment that even looking beyond that metric, I found it to be yet another underwhelming Coens effort.

It now feels like a long time since the last film of their I genuinely enjoyed, and of all things I think it might be the slightly maligned and frivolous Burn After Reading of all things. My initial thoughts on what might have been the crucial factor in my lack of enjoyment of Buster Scrugg was that key piece of humanity and empathy missing from the script. The Coens could never be described as the warm and fuzzy type, the best scripts laced with a dark humour towards the folly of man, straddling the line between comedy and tragedy. This Netflix film however had a core of ... mean-spiritedness in a fashion that made some of the stories repetitive and unpalatable. 'Meal Ticket' was perhaps the biggest downer of the lot; and while the rug-pull in that section was a beautifully shot piece of wordless drama, it was a kick in the gut - but one without that key facet of devious, gallows humour I admire in the Coens' better writing.

Perhaps the clue was in the first few minutes: the titular character lamenting being called a misanthrope, because that's precisely how this film felt in general: misanthropic. Even "No Country for Old Men" didn't leave that strong a taste in my mouth, but then it wasn't trying to be arch and flippantly ironic.

RasTa

Enjoyable little romp

Sad Professor

I loved it! Their most existential film since A Serious Man, which is probably my favourite Coen film and this reminded me of it a lot. Quite dense as always with the Coens. There's a lot of little connections between the stories, with the central theme of death hanging over everything.

I wouldn't consider it misanthropic. I rarely doubt the Coens' love for their foolish if often buffoonish characters. And even when I do Carter Burwell is there to pull me back.

Agree about the shiny digital/Netflix aesthetic though.

Dakota Dan

Frank O. Pinion wrote: »

I really enjoyed this. Big Coen brothers fan. Out of the six stories, two were great, two very good, one bleak and slow, and one I didn't like. My favourite was the old gold digger and Mr. Pocket. Overall, it turned out a decent film for something that started off as an anthology series.

The gold digger was the most boring for me followed by Meal ticket with it's very predictable ending, the rest were brilliant. Which one was bleak and slow in your mind?

Frank O. Pinion

Dakota Dan wrote: »

Which one was bleak and slow in your mind?

Meal ticket.